


Y is for Yellow Cake

by Calacious



Series: Decadent Desserts [2]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Danny is a badass, First Kiss, Love at First Sight, M/M, Mentioned Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Some Humor, Steve has it bad, Steve is protective, Super cheesy with a side of extra cheese, extreme fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-23 11:19:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16157954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calacious/pseuds/Calacious
Summary: Steve returns to the pleasure house to order a special dessert served on a particular display, but finds that the display he desires is not available. He is not happy.





	Y is for Yellow Cake

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own the characters of this work of fiction and am not making a profit through writing this.
> 
> Set in a future where people are open with their sexuality and indulging in sexual fantasies is encouraged. A direct sequel to Z is for Zagbaglione.

"Buttery yellow cake smothered with a thick layer of dark chocolate ganache, and filled to overflowing with orange flavored cream cheese. A mouthwatering dessert that's also a feast for the eyes," Steve reads the description aloud, and Kono snickers.

She's already decided on her dessert and display for the evening. A strawberry tart to sate her sweet tooth. And this time, she's ordering a brunette with thick curly hair, and 'fetching freckles' that cover the entirety of her voluptuous body. The display picture leaves nothing to the imagination. None of them do, though. It's part of the charm of a dessert shop.

"So, Steve, have you decided on a display for your throwback to the fifties box cake?" Kono asks.

"It's...just...my mom used to make yellow cake for my birthday, and please tell me that I did not just mention my mom right now." Steve can feel his cheeks heating up, and he drops his face into his hands when Kono laughs.

He's just happy that his slip-up hadn't occurred in the indulgence room. He has a feeling that Danny wouldn't let a gauche comment like that go too easily. He knows that Kono won't let it go for a long time to come.

"Whatever floats your boat, sailor," Kono says. "I'm sure that if you pick the right display, he'll be more than willing to feed your Oedipus complex. Maybe the display you choose will even let you call him, Mommy dearest, and -"

Steve places a hand over her mouth, and she licks and playfully bites his palm. Steve grimaces and wipes his palm off on the sleeve of Kono's tee-shirt. Tonight, she's all tomboy, complete with grass-stained baseball shirt; short, cut-off jeans; a baseball cap, that hides her thick, dark hair; and mischievous look glittering in her brown eyes.

Steve's heart fills with love for his best friend.

 _Some day_ , he thinks, _Kono's going to make some woman mighty happy. If she ever decides to settle down long enough to make that happen._

Kono's always flitted from one relationship to the next ever since Steve can remember. She'd been a cheerleader in high school, and had dated half the cheerleader squad, and a good portion of the football team before declaring - out of the blue - that she was completely over men and boys, and that she was strictly, from then on out, a sausage-free kind of girl.

He'd laughed at the time, but, to his knowledge, Kono hadn't veered from her sausage-free path since then, and he doubts that she ever will.

Steve's always batted for both sides. He can remember the first time that he'd been attracted to someone of the same sex as though it had happened just yesterday. He was about four years old, splashing in the shallow water near the ocean's shore, his father was only a couple of yards away, and his mother was sitting with his baby sister underneath a large beach umbrella. Steve had picked up a spiny shell and was turning it over in his hand to see if there was something living inside of it when a shadow fell over him. He lifted his head, hand cupped over his eyes to keep the sun out, and there was a god standing there, in the flesh. A young surfer come to shore. Steve thought the boy had been Thor, and had even said so, in awe. The blonde surfer had laughed, and tousled Steve's hair, and Steve had fallen utterly, helplessly in love, stomach fluttering with its first case of butterflies.

Steve had fallen hard for a girl with red hair, and a dusting of freckles across her nose and cheeks the following year, in kindergarten. Steve had even kissed her (on the cheek) and they'd held hands. It had been Steve's first serious relationship, for about two months, and then Steve had met Mark, and, after they'd stopped pounding on each other at recess, they'd started sharing lunches, and trading baseball cards, and hugging each other on the playground.

Kono's failed attempts to smother her laughter behind her hand jars Steve from childhood memories, and he shoots her a glare.

"I do not have an Oedipus complex," Steve hisses across the table.

"Are you going to order the yellow cake for dessert?" Kono asks, trying to keep a straight face.

Steve pretends to read the descriptions of the other desserts being offered tonight before nodding. If he's going to indulge in a decadent dessert, he might as well go all out. He'll swim, and run it off in the morning, though, well, he might just work off any excess calories while eating dessert if the display is half as hot as last time.

Kono mouths, _Oedipus_ , and then devolves into silent laughter, wiping at the tears in her eyes with the back of her hand.

Their server, a young man dressed in a suit, complete with tie, approaches their table and nods to each of them in turn. His smile reveals a set of straight, white teeth, and a distinct dimple in his right cheek. His curly blonde hair, and sharp blue eyes have Steve giving him a lingering look that makes the young man blush.

The server clears his throat and ducks his head shyly. "Have you decided on dessert tonight?"

"I'm going to have the strawberry tart," Kono says with more confidence than Steve feels that he'll be able to muster when it's his turn to order.

"How would you like your tart displayed?" The waiter looks up, and taps Kono's order into his handheld device. "With or without additional strawberries?"

Kono's smile is devilish as she announces, "Extra strawberries, please. And I'd l like the citrus cream filling, with this display." She points to the picture of the display that she wants, D, on page six, and the server taps in the order quickly and efficiently.

"Will you be sharing dessert tonight?" The server's looking at Kono, and Steve wonders if the blushing young man is avoiding him.

Kono shakes her head. "Steve and I have different tastes."

The server turns to Steve, blue eyes wide, and more than a little flush with the slip of the name. "For you, sir?"

"I'd like the yellow cake with orange cream filling," Steve says.

He ignores Kono's not so subtle sneeze of, "Oedipus," and tries not to let on that he's heard a word in it. The waiter looks puzzled, which Steve finds rather adorable.

"I'd like this display." Steve flips to Danny's page, and tries, in vain, to quell the butterflies that gambol in his stomach. The picture in the portfolio - Danny lying naked on a checkered tablecloth, a come hither look on his face, a hint of mischief in his eyes - doesn't, if Steve's memory is serving him correctly, do the man justice. It's a different picture than the one that Steve had been drawn to the last time Kono had dragged him out for dessert, but it's no less a turn on than the other one had been. If anything, Steve finds himself more drawn to the man on display.

The server taps the order into his machine, and then frowns. His almost perpetual blush fades, and he clears his throat. "I'm sorry, sir, that display is no longer available tonight. Is there another display that you'd like?"

Steve clenches his jaw and shakes his head. There are other attractive displays in the menu, but, ever since he'd met the man, Steve hadn't been able to stop thinking about Danny. Kono had warned him that it was a bad idea to get overly attached to a particular display, but as far as Steve is concerned, it's far too late for him. The second he'd set eyes on Danny, he was a goner. There'd be no one else for him.

"I'm sorry, sir, the display was just removed from the menu a few minutes ago. A group of five booked the display for a birthday party. A twenty-first, coming of age birthday." It's clear by the way that the server bites his lip, and ducks his head, that he's told Steve more than he should have. "I'm really sorry. I can-"

"No, that's alright," Steve says, shutting the menu with a little more force than necessary, making the young server flinch. "I'll just come back another time."

"Uh, if you're interested in booking a particular display, you might want to pre-order the display through our website. Displays can be booked days, even weeks, in advance, and bookings made online are always guaranteed," the server says hurriedly. He pulls a card out of one of his pockets and offers it to Steve.

"You preorder the display, and then order the dessert here, at least a half an hour before you're ready to eat. Our dessert menu changes every night, but pre-ordered displays can be booked even on nights they aren't featured in the menu, provided that you book the display well in advance."

Steve reluctantly takes the card with the website information on it and turns it over in his hand, pretending to read the information written in shiny, embossed letters on it. His mind is elsewhere, though. It's with Danny, in one of the back rooms, decorated as a glorified birthday cake, decked out in edible party favors, body cavities filled with frosting or icing, and too many tongues taking part in the tasting and devouring of the 'cake' at their mercy.

It's a good thing Kono and he drove separately. He doubts that she'll be finishing her dessert any time soon, and doubts that he'll be good company when she's finished. He gives the server a tight smile and puts the card in his pocket.

Kono places a hand on his and squeezes. She gives him a sympathetic look, which Steve waves off. "It's fine," he says. It isn't, but he doesn't want Kono to know just how far down the rabbit's hole that he's fallen.

"I told you not to get too attached," Kono chides. "I can cancel my order and we can go to Kamekono's Shrimp and Babes Shack. We haven't been there in awhile. Maybe your fathers will be there, indulging in a threesome or a moresome, or, you know, shrimp."

Steve closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose in an attempt to banish the images from his mind that Kono is putting there. He'd supported his father's marriage to Chin after his mother had left them, and he supported their love life in theory. He did not need to entertain that theory in colorful images that Kono apparently delighted in. She had wholeheartedly embraced the age of sexual enlightenment. Steve was still recovering from years spent in the Navy, and while they had loosened up their policies some, the armed services had not as readily accepted the sexual enlightenment movement. They were making strides, but were nowhere near as open as the rest of the non-military world was.

Laughing, Kono slapped Steve on the arm. "Get enlightened," she says. "Seriously, though, if you want, I -"

"No, have your dessert," Steve says. "I'll be fine."

"You just need to try another display," Kono says. "Trust me, I know what I'm talking about."

There's something in the tone of her voice that has Steve opening his eyes and really looking at his best friend. There's a sadness lingering behind her smile and the brightness of her eyes. He's seen it before, but until now hadn't realized what it meant.

"You, too?" Steve asks.

Kono gives him a sardonic smile. "Nothing like this," she says gesturing to Steve and the abandoned menu. "But I was in love once. It didn't work out."

"I'm sorry," Steve says, squeezing her hand.

"Don't be," Kono says. "I've moved on."

Steve doesn't press the issue. He'd been in love once, too, thinks he might be in love now, though it's crazy. He's only spent a couple of hours with Danny (if that's the man's real name) and had eaten dessert off the man. Not the best way to build a relationship.

"Don't worry about me," Steve says when it looks like Kono is thinking of canceling. "Seriously, I promise I'll be fine."

The escort arrives, and, though she casts him a guilty look, Kono takes the escort's arm and lets him lead her to her indulgence room. Steve glances through the menu, flipping quickly through the different displays. One looks like he might be former military and Steve wonders what led display C on page 4 to work at a place like Decadent Desserts. He's cute, but young, and reminds Steve too much of himself to think about indulging in dessert with him.

He puts the menu aside and stands, ready to take his leave of the place. He fingers the card in his pocket and blushes at the thought of pre-ordering Danny for dessert. It feels so dirty and wrong to think like that, but it is the age of sexual enlightenment, and he has a lot of years of repression to make up for as Kono would put it.

Just as he's about to leave, the sound of a scuffle captures his attention. He's running toward the disturbance before it fully registers that he's doing so, pushing alarmed patrons and servers out of his way in his haste to offer whatever help he can. The sound of an irate voice has him halting for a brief moment, and then he's running when it hits him that the voice is Danny's, and the man is pissed.

He rounds the corner that leads to the indulgence rooms and comes to an abrupt halt at the sight of Danny, stark naked, icing and sprinkles dripping from his nipples and perfectly sculpted privates. He's got one young man by the ear, and has another in a headlock. It would be comical if it weren't for the fact that Steve knows Danny wouldn't be doing this if something bad hadn't happened.

"What's going on?" a man who looks like he might be the proprietor of the business asks. Steve hates him on sight, and not just because of his resemblance to a rat - small, beady eyes; thin lips; and receding hairline. He looks livid, but not on Danny's behalf.

"These two yahoos thought it would be fun to pin me down while their friends fucked me." Danny's chest is heaving. His blue eyes are flashing with anger, his skin flush with it, and all Steve can see is red.

He's at Danny's side, rendering the asshole Danny'd had by the ear unconscious with a move he's not used since he's left the military, and has broken the nose of the other man. He's not even aware that he's done anything until he feels hands on his face and hears Danny's voice, pleading with him to calm down, promising him that nothing's happened, that he's okay.

"I'm fine, super soldier," Danny's saying. "See, not a scratch on me," he says when he senses that Steve's tracking the conversation, and since when had he ended up on the floor, head cradled in Danny's lap?

Steve blinks up at Danny and is rewarded with a glorious smile. "You back with me, babe?"

Nodding, Steve tries to sit up, but Danny holds him down. "Let's let Claude Van Hot Damn finish taking out the riff-raff, then we'll get you settled."

"You okay?" Steve asks, voice a little husky with fear and embarrassment and he's so damn fucked because he loves a man he barely knows.

"I'm fine," Danny says, running a hand through his hair. "I _was_ fine before you stepped in and G.I. Joe'd it up. I can handle myself, you know. I'm well-versed in self-defense, and stop looking at me like that. I'm fine. Nothing happened."

Steve thinks of the scars he'd seen on Danny's body, wonders if that's why he'd learned self-defense, or if he'd gotten them defending himself. He also sees some fresh bruises and a slight tremor running through Danny's body belying the other man's words to the contrary.

"Stop that right now," Danny says, jabbing a finger at Steve's nose, making Steve go cross-eyed. "No brooding while you're in a house of pleasure."

Smiling, in spite of the situation, or maybe because of it, Steve shakes his head. "I'm not brooding."

"Yes, my friend, you are, and don't you deny it," Danny says.

"So what if I am?" Steve asks. "Aren't I allowed to brood if I want to? The display I wanted wasn't available, and I'd had my heart set on it."

Steve blushes when he realizes what he'd just admitted to and hopes that Danny didn't catch his slip-up, though the raised eyebrow and the almost tender look that crosses the man's features before a more playful look takes up residence, tells Steve that it's a lost cause. He's been found out.

"That is..." Steve tries to backpedal, which is really hard to do while his head is resting in Danny's lap, and he's blushing like he's fifteen again and his crush has agreed to go out with him.

"Your heart, you say?" Danny asks, voice quiet.

Steve nods, and this time when he moves to sit up, Danny lets him. He moves until he's sitting beside Danny, shoulders touching. The hallway's been cleared, and Steve knows he should probably be alarmed that he can't recall that happening at all, but he's just happy that there's no one else present to witness his humiliation, because Danny's bound to send him packing. After all, Steve's nothing more to him than a paying customer, and one that he's only seen once. Steve hates the thought that Danny's entertained others, that the other man might actually be in love with someone who isn't him.

"Yeah," Steve admits. Damn his heart and its stupid tendency to fall quick and hard for those he can never have. "Look, I...shit, I'm sorry, just forget what I said, okay?"

"It's fine," Danny says, giving Steve a sidelong glance before shaking his head and raking a hand through his hair. "Look, just so you know I don't do this like, ever, alright?"

Nonplussed, Steve allows Danny to manhandle him so that they're facing each other. There's an intense look on Danny's face and Steve swallows. He's never been this nervous, confused and turned on all at once.

A myriad of emotions crosses Danny's face before he nods and then grabs Steve's face, pulling him into a kiss that's short, sweet and far too much of a tease for Steve to be satisfied. He wants more, but Danny's leaning back, blue eyes searching Steve's, and then he's smiling and once again nodding to himself.

Lips pursed, Danny narrows his eyes at Steve, and Steve realizes that the other man is having some sort of internal debate. He hopes that it resolves itself in his favor, whatever Danny is arguing with himself over.

"I'm off on Friday," Danny says. "I like beer, baseball, and pizza. Movies are okay. I'm a damn good dancer. I prefer an informal first date, to test the waters, and I don't put out. Don't confuse informal with cheap."

"Understood," Steve says.

"You got a pen?" Danny makes grabby hands and Steve bats his hands away from his pockets (not that he minds having Danny paw at him, but he feels a little too exposed in the hallway, though no one is around and it's Danny, not he, who is naked).

"Let me," Steve says and Danny throws his hands up.

"By all means, super soldier."

Rolling his eyes, Steve pulls a pen out of one of his pockets (cargo pants are handy, no matter what Kono says on the subject) and hands it to Danny who wastes no time in uncapping it and grabbing Steve's arm. He cradles Steve's hand in his lap and sticks the tip of his tongue out of his mouth as he writes in a tidy scrawl across the inside of Steve's arm.

"That's my number and my address. Don't lose it," Danny says, returning Steve's arm and pen.

Steve has a flashback to grade school and Jenni Shepherd who'd done the same thing to him once, except she'd written their names together inside of a heart and the names of their children instead of her address and phone number. Steve had stopped pulling her pigtails after that. He'd started picking on Peter Parker and had ended up connecting the boy's freckles with black ink while they both hung upside down on the monkeybars. They'd kissed. A chaste touching of lips followed by giggling, and then dropped to the ground, running off to class as the school bell rang, signaling the end of recess.

He feels giddy and lightheaded and doesn't know what to do with his hands. It's like he's ten years old again, and it's ridiculous, but he can't help it.

"Babe, you're going a little cross-eyed there," Danny says, bringing Steve back to himself. He pats Steve on the cheek and Steve frowns at him. Danny simply grins in response.

"See you Friday night?" he asks as he stands. He holds out a hand to help Steve up.

"Seven good?" Steve asks.

"Seven's fine," Danny says. "I'm free anytime after noon."

"How about three, then?" Steve doesn't know what makes him ask that, or what he's going to plan for an afternoon date with a man he barely knows, but Danny's grinning at him and a peace settles over him.

"Three it is," Danny says. "See you Friday." With that, Danny turns around and Steve can't help it, he watches Danny's ass as the man walks away. Danny wiggles his ass a little as he turns the corner and Steve lets out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

When he reaches the front of the establishment, Kono's there, waiting for him. She's got a smug look on her face that Steve knows has little to do with dessert and everything to do with what she'd no doubt heard about from the staff. He and Danny might have been left alone in that area of the building, but Steve knows that rumor mills are still alive and well.

"You look like the cat that got the canary," Kono says. "Spill."

Steve knows he's grinning like an idiot, but he can't help it. "We're going out on Friday," he says.

Kono's eyes widen and she slaps Steve on the back as they leave. "I guess you really are a Smooth Dog," she says, easily sidestepping the playful punch that Steve aims at her arm.

"Just, promise me that you won't do anything stupid, like get hurt," Kono says in a rare moment of seriousness.

Steve pulls Kono into a one-armed hug and kisses her on the top of the head. She punches him in the arm and he lets go, rubbing at his arm. It doesn't really hurt, though he knows that if she put some heat behind it, it would.

"I really think that there's something there," Steve says.

"Like love at first sight?" Kono asks, nose scrunching up in disbelief.

"I don't know," Steve says, sighing. "Maybe. I haven't been able to stop thinking of him, and I haven't felt this way in...ever."

"You've got it bad," Kono says, slapping him on the back.

"Yeah, I guess I do." Steve hopes that he's not making a mistake, that his heart isn't leading him astray.

**Author's Note:**

> Recipes for various cakes that use yellow cake as a base:  
> http://allrecipes.com/recipe/49762/decadent-chocolate-orange-cake/  
> https://smittenkitchen.com/2009/07/best-birthday-cake/  
> http://www.marthastewart.com/897987/classic-yellow-cake-batter
> 
> Some box cake history:  
> http://www.dvo.com/recipe_pages/cakemixes/Over_50_Years_of_Cake_Mix_Success.php


End file.
